Project Overview
FirstKey Homes (FKH) is a leading U.S. provider of single-family rental (SFR) homes, with operations across the West, Midwest, and Southeast. RealFoundations (RF) collaborated with FKH on a 15-month technology project to enhance the organization’s operational excellence as a leader in the burgeoning SFR market. The project dubbed the Yardi® Enterprise Transformation Initiative, or YETI, included a diagnostic assessment of FKH’s Yardi Voyager® platform to identify challenges with utilization, opportunities to strengthen the management of portfolio assets and performance reporting, and ways to better support future growth.
The assessment revealed that FKH could leverage Voyager’s robust, native functionality more effectively to replace many time-consuming and error-prone manual tasks, including those historically handled with Excel. Consequently, RF redesigned and implemented a new instance of Yardi 7S which allowed the company to streamline processes, automate more functions and significantly improve system performance and processing time. The project was almost entirely executed over distance through RealFoundations’ Modern Digital Workplace (MDW), powered by Microsoft, which allows the firm and its clients to collaborate in real-time from anywhere via any device with an Internet connection.
“We partnered with RealFoundations because of their deep experience in the single-family rental home space and record of success. The project yielded all the benefits identified by the diagnostic and came in on time and budget despite the challenges created by working in a remote environment. The completion of this project provides a solid foundation to further scale our business and achieve our growth plans now and into the future.”
— Jack Brennan, Chief Financial Officer, FirstKey Homes
Challenges
- Slow performance across the organization when processing transactions and reports,
- General inefficiencies due to a sub-optimal configuration of the original Yardi system and insufficient user training,
- Heavy reliance on Excel spreadsheets for financial calculations and reporting,
- Highly manual internal controls environment due to duplicate data entry and reconciliation, and
- Financial transaction methods that resulted in a manual financial reporting environment.
Value-Add Solutions
The transformation initiative delivered more than 70 improvements, spanning corporate and property accounting, job cost, fixed assets, operations, marketing, leasing, maintenance and reporting. It:
- Improved overall Yardi system performance and reduced latency,
- Re-platformed the legacy system with a redesigned Chart of Accounts structure,
- Streamlined business processes across different departments and roles,
- Established a new security model with correct access and restrictions for each user and group,
- Moved fixed assets processes from Excel into the new Yardi system,
- Identified and developed several custom Yardi and business intelligence (BI) reports,
- Created AP templates, GL disbursement, and standardized invoice approval workflows, and
- Accelerated enterprise-wide adoption of the new system through delivery of nearly 90 quick reference guides, supplemental training materials and over 40 training sessions via Microsoft Teams.
Realized Benefits
- An optimized platform that enhances performance and response time,
- A redesigned chart of accounts structure with flexibility for future portfolio growth,
- Elimination of manual calculations in managing equipment and other assets, thanks to the implementation of Yardi Fixed Assets,
- Access to segmented accounting to allow for deeper reporting and analysis,
- Leaner workflows and business processes across major enterprise functions and roles,
- Utilization of Yardi Voyager functionality to leverage standardized reports while minimizing dependency on custom reporting, significantly reducing administrative effort, and
- A new library of training materials to support employee adoption of Yardi Voyager.
Connect with Us
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Our Yardi Experience
As a premier Yardi Independent Consultant, RealFoundations has significant experience implementing, upgrading and supporting the full suite of Yardi® products for our clients across various real estate market segments. Our practitioners are proficient in all Yardi Marketing, Property Management, Procurement, Asset Management and Investment solutions. Since 2000, we have completed 80+ Yardi implementations/upgrades and developed unique design workbooks that document cross-module configuration. Our know-how and cross-module experience in various Yardi products empower us to meet our client’s most important functional requirements and consistently deliver valuable outcomes. To learn more, visit Yardi Consulting and Services.
About FirstKey Homes
FirstKey Homes, LLC is a privately owned, single-family rental home property management company with corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. FirstKey Homes manages homes through local operations in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Memphis, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, St. Louis and Tampa/Fort Myers. With a mission to give our family of residents a place to call home, FirstKey Homes provides homes that are affordable, free from major maintenance and repair costs, and located in a variety of neighborhoods.
About Yardi
Yardi develops and supports industry-leading investment and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate companies. Established in 1984, Yardi is based in Santa Barbara, CA and serves clients worldwide.
About RealFoundations
RealFoundations (RF) is the world’s foremost professional services firm focused solely on the real estate industry. Through our delivery of Management Consulting and Managed Services, we help companies that develop, own, operate, service or invest in real estate make better, more profitable decisions. We are proud partners to over 500 real estate companies around the globe, providing accelerated solutions that solve some of real estate’s most complex challenges. We Make Real Estate Run Better.
